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Trump Plans To Save Billions More Than US Spends On Medicaid Drugs

At the GOP debate on Thursday night, Trump repeated his promise to save $300 billion on Medicaid drug prices through negotiation. When it was pointed out to him that Medicaid only spends $78 billion total on drugs he immediately backtracks and says “I’m saying saving through negotiation throughout the whole economy you’ll save $300 billion…if you properly negotiate.”

In 2014, in the entirety of the US economy, $297.7 billion was spent on prescription drugs. Donald Trump actually looked America in the eye and said that not only would prescription drugs be free, but he would somehow make the drug companies pay $2.3 billion for the privilege to give their products away. This is a lie so easily disproved that it is surprising that Donald Trump would continue to promote it, inveterate liar that he is.

Advocacy group Public Citizen performed a study concluding that Medicaid could save up to $16 billion dollars a year if they received the discounts that state programs get. $16 billion is a savings worth fighting for but a long way away from $300 billion.